Box for dispensing pastilles and the like



Sept 7, 1965 P. M. R. L. GADENNE 3,204,834

BOX FOR DISPENSING PASTILLES AND THE LIKE Filed No. 4, 196s l Il ummm! "Il".

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United States Patent O BOX FOR DlSPENSllNG PASTILLES AND THE LIKE Pierre Maurice Rne Lon Gadenne, Bagneux, France, assigner to Chimie et Atomistique, Paris, France, a French body corporate Filed Nov. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 321,681 Claims priority, application France Nov. 14, 1962 4 Claims. (Cl. 222-368) The present invention relates to dispensing boxes which are carried in the pocket and enable a pastille or the like to be extracted at will therefrom without necessity to open the box. These boxes enclose in particular pharmaceutical pastilles.

Boxes of this type are known in which is rotatively mounted a Wheel provided with pastille receiving notches which, when the wheel is rotated, come successively in alignment with an opening formed in the lateral wall of the box so as to permit distribution of the pastilles. A knurling is provided on the periphery of the wheel on which the user exerts a pressure with his finger for rotating the Wheel.

This arrangement has a certain number of drawbacks. It is necessary that the opening in the lateral wall of the box be large enough to allow a large portion of the periphery of the wheel to protrude therethrough so as to permit rotating the wheel. Consequently, the contents of the box are poorly protected from the atmosphere and might become very easily impaired or soiled. Another source of soiling of the contents of the box is the contact of the fingers ofthe user with the wheel distributing the pastilles.

Further, owing to the knurling formed on the periphery of the wheel, the number of notches formed therein must usually be restricted to two. It is consequently rather dilicult to cause a pastille to enter these notches for its extraction from the box. In this respect it must be mentioned .that these boxes are sometimes intended to contain pastilles whose rapidity of 'absorption by the user is an essential factor. This is the case, for example, when these pastilles are intended for a patient having angina pectoris who must take one of thesepastilles as soon as he feels the start of an attack. Itis consequently important that the box be very easy tooperate since in his nervous state at the start of an attack, the manual dexterity of the patient is very diminished. The small number of notches in the wheel is therefore a serious drawback, particularly when it is considered that in his nervous state the patient is liable, in continuously operating the wheel to obtain the pastille, to cause two or more of them to fall from the box.

The object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks. The invention provides a dispensing box of the aforementioned type wherein the pastille-dispensing wheel is rigid in rotation with a control knob mounted outside the box Ion one of theA large sides of the latter,

the size of the opening in the lateral wall of the box being thus restricted to the width of one notch.

This arrangement precludes the danger of the soiling of the contents of the box by the fingers of the user and materially reduces the soiling due to the contact of the contents with the atmosphere. This arrangement also greatly facilitates the operation. In particular, as the periphery of the dispensing wheel does not possess a knurling, the whole of the periphery can be utilized for forming the notches. The latter are consequently in a much greater number, for example eight notches. In this way one can be practically sure of extracting a pastille upon each operation of the wheel. Moreover, in providing a boss on the control knob and corresponding recesses in the facing surface of the bottom wall of the Patented Sept. 7, 1965 ICC box in circumferential spaced relation and in a number equal to the number of notches, the passage from one notch to the other as the dispensing wheel is rotated must overcome a resistance. In this manner an undesired extraction of several pastilles is avoided.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description, with reference to the accompanying drawing to which the invention is in no way limited.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of one embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of this embodiment.

In the illustrated embodiment, the box according to the invention comprises a bottom 1, which is in one piece with the lateral wall 2 of the box, and a detachable lid 3. Bottom 1, lateral wall 2 and lid 3 define a rst cavity for storing the pastilles and the like, and a second cavity for a dispensing mechanism described hereinafter. The lid is provided on its inner face with lugs 4 or pins which are engaged in apertures 5 formed in the upper face of the wall 2. The bottom 1 and the lid 3 are advantageously composed of plastic material, the lid being preferably transparent so as to permit inspection of the contents of the box.

The box has a generally trapezoidal shape so as to be easy to take hold of between the middle finger and the index linger, the latter serving to operate the dispensing mechanism which will now be described.

This mechanism comprises a Wheel 6 located in the aforementioned second cavity and provided on a periphery with evenly-spaced notches 7 which have such size that' a single one of the pastilles P placed in the box can tit therein, these notches are eight in number in the presently-described embodiment.

The wheel 6 has at its centre a rectangular aperture S adapted to receive the corresponding portion of a pin or spindle 9 which is provided at the centre of a control knob or wheel 10 and extends through an opening 11 in the bottom 1.

The box is assembled in the following manner. The knurled control knob 10 is placed on the outer face of the bottom 1 so that its pin 9 extends through the opening 11 and through the slot 8 in the wheel 6. The free end of the pin 9 is then burred over so as to maintain the parts assembled.

It will be observed that the wheel 6 occupies the con-- vergent end of the bottom 1, the lateral wall 2 being curved in the form of an arc of a circle at 12 on its inner face in front of this Wheel so as to correspond to the shape of this wheel on a large part of its periphery with provision of a slight clearance. An opening 13, whose width is but slightly larger than the width of the notches, is in the presently-described embodiment formed corners of the bottom 1.

The outer face of the lateral face 2 is moreover concave at 14 along the convergent end of the bottom 1 and on the opposite side of'the opening 13, so that the control knob 10 can protrude from the box in this concavity.

The side of the control knob 10 facing the bottom 1` is provided with a boss 15 in the shape of a ramp which is connected to this face by a slightly sloping face on one side and by an abrupt face on the other. The outer face of the wall of the bottom 1 is provided with recesses 16 whose shapes correspond to that of the boss 15 and which are evenly spaced apart on a circumference which is centered on the aperture 11 and has a radius equal to the distance between the boss 15 and the pin 9. The number of these recesses equals the number of notclles '7 and one of them faces the opening 13. It will be understood that in rotating the knob 10 so as to shift one notch 7 out of alignment with the opening 13 and subsequently shift the next following notch 7 into alignment with the opening 13, a slight resistance is encountered as the sloping face of the boss 15 is urged clockwise in the joint plane between the knob and the bottom face of wall 1 and slides along the corresponding sloping face of the recess 16. These two relatively sloping faces urge the knob 10 and wall 1 progressively apart in the region of the boss until the boss enters the next following recess 16 in the path of movement of the boss 15. The large radial distance between the axis of rotation of the knob 10 and the boss 15, the relatively thin wall of the knob 10 and the small diameter of the pin 9 relative to that of the knob, permit aresilient deformation of the knob to allow the boss to move in and out of consecutive recesses 16 as the knob 10 is rotated, but the resiliently yieldable resistance offered by the knob 10 to this deformation tends to retain each notch 7 in alignment with the opening 13 and thus gives an indication to the user each time a notch comes into alignment with the opening and each time the notch is about to be shifted out of alignment with this opening. The abrupt rear end of the boss 15 and the corresponding abrupt ends of the recesses 16 preclude rotation of the knob 10 in the opposite direction.

The box is used in the following manner:

The pastilles P are first placed in the box 15 after having removed the lid 3. When the lid has been replaced, the user can extract a pastille from the box at will. He takes hold ofthe box in the right hand between the middle finger and index finger, the latter bearing against the control knob 10. He inclines the box in such manner that the opening 13 is downwardly directed and places his left hand under this opening. In this position the pastilles are sure to enter the notches '7 of the wheel 6 located in front of the upwardly divergent ends of the bottom 1. In rotating the control knob 10 by means of the index finger so that the rst of these lled notches cornes into alignment with the lopening 13, a pastille falls into the left hand of the user. Another pastille cannot follow unless this is desired, since in the course of dispensing the rst pastille the boss 15 engages the corresponding recess 16. The force required to disengage the boss from the recess is sucient to stop rotation of the wheel 6 which would otherwise cause a second pastille to fall out of the box. Therefore, this wheel operates step-bystep and cannot rotate accidentally, for example in the pocket of a user. Further, it cannot rotate in the reverse direction and this permits always having a pastille ready to be dispensed.

It will be, observed that as the box has been arranged in such manner that the notch 7 which is the nearest to the opening 13 contains a pastille, it is sufficient during the utilisation of the box to rotate the wheel 6 one eighth of a rotation to obtain a pastille in a certain manner.l

This results in the easy handling of the box and a very rapid obtainment of a pastille, which is of prime importance when the pastilles are intended for disorders such as angina pectoris.

Further, there will be observed the small size of the opening 13 and the absence of contact of the linger of the user with the wheel 6, so that risk of soiling the pastilles is to a very large extent avoided.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described, many modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A pocket dispenser for pastilles and the like cornprising a box having a bottom wall, a top wall, and a peripheral lateral wall defining the perimeter of said box between said top and bottom walls, said three walls defini ing a first cavity therein for storing pastilles and the like,

a partially circular second cavity in said box adjacent said first cavity, a portion of said lateral wall forming a passageway connecting said two cavities, a dispensing wheel having its major portion rotatably mounted in said second cavity in close relation to said walls; the outer face of said bottom wall having a circular recess therein adjacent an edge thereof, a control knob for said dispensing wheel seated in said recess, the outer surface of said knob being ush with the outer surface of the box and a portion of said knob projecting laterally outwardly of said lateral wall; a pivot pin rotatably mounted in said bottom wall, said pin being fixed to and interconnecting said wheel and knob, said wheel having spaced notches in the periphery thereof, each notch being of such size as to receive a single pastille from said first cavity, said lateral wall having a discharge opening therein communicating with said second cavity for the discharge of said pastilles upon rotation of said knob.

2. A pocket dispenser according to claim 1 in which said lateral wall is indented adjacent said recess in said bottom wall, and said knob projects into said indentation.

3. A pocket dispenser according to claim 1 in which cooperating detent means are positioned between said bottom and said knob to provide for step by step rotation of said knob, a detent being provided to correspond to each notch in said Wheel.

4. A pocket dispenser according to claim 1 in which detent means are positioned between said bottom member and said knob member, said means comprising a series of recesses formed on the face of one of said members, and a corresponding boss member, engageable with said recesses, formed on the adjacent face of said other member, said recesses providing ramps having an abrupt shoulder, whereby when the knob is rotated in one direction said boss member will ride over said ramps, and when said boss member'engages said shoulder, said shoulder will prevent rotation in a reverse direction.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS LOUIS J. DEMBo, Primary Examiner. RAPHAEL M. LUPO, Examiner. 

1. A POCKET DISPENSER FOR PASTILLERS AND THE LIKE COMPRISING A BOX HAVING A BOTTOM WALL, A TOP WALL, AND A PERIPHERAL LATERAL WALL DEFINING THE PERIMETER OF SAID BOX BETWEEN SAID TOP AND BOTTOM WALLS, SAID THREE WALLS DEFINING A FIRST CAVITY THEREIN FOR STORING PASTILLES AND THE LIKE, A PARTIALLY CIRCULAR SECOND CAVITY IN SAID BOX ADJACENT SAID FIRST CAVITY, A PORTION OF SAID LATERAL WALL FORMING A PASSAGEWAY CONNECTING SAID TWO CAVITIES, A DISPENSING WHEEL HAVING ITS MAJOR PORTION ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID SECOND CAVITY IN CLOSE RELATION TO SAID WALLS; THE OUTER FACE OF SAID BOTTOM WALL HAVING A CIRCULAR RECESS THEREIN ADJACENT AN EDGE THEREOF, A CONTROL KNOB FOR SAID DISPENSING WHEEL SEATED IN SAID RECESS, THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID KNOB BEING FLUSH WITH THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE BOX AND A PORTION OF SAID KNOB PROJECTING LATERALLY OUTWARDLY OF SAID LATERAL WALL; A PIVOT PIN ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID BOTTOM WALL, SAID PIN BEING FIXED TO AND INTERCONNECTING SAID WHEEL AND KNOB, SAID WHEEL HAVING SPACED NOTCHES IN THE PERIPHERY THEREOF, EACH NOTCH BEING OF SUCH SIZE AS TO RECEIVE A SINGLE PASTILLE FROM SAID FIRST CAVITY, SAID LATERAL WALL HAVING A DISCHARGE OPENING THEREIN COMMUNICATING WITH SAID SECOND CAVITY FOR THE DISCHARGE OF SAID PASTILLES UPON ROTATION OF SAID KNOB. 